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Chief Creative Officer Rich Hilleman suggests that EA should support Notch for free.

Update: Notch has responded via Twitter. "I'm sure EA is very successful at monetizing games, but the more we don't do what they would do, the happier I am," he says.

Original article: EA employees say the darndest things. 30-year industry vet and Chief Creative Officer Rich Hilleman, though, isn't one to run his company's name through the mud. Instead, his statements tend to be bold, a bit ridiculous, and, well, sort of un-EA-like. His latest drop of mad science, however, may very well take the cake. In a nutshell, he's pulling for Origin to throw its managerial weight behind Minecraftfor free.

"What I've told the guys who run Origin for us is that we should do it for free, because as you can see my vision of that business, that's not where the money comes from anyway."

"As somebody who has had to reinstall Windows on my son's computer after he attempted to install Mod Manager on that machine, there's a lot of value to be provided for the customer in making Minecraft and its mods and installations something that's a more commercial and predictable product. Those are the kinds of things that Notch needs help with, and that without the help of a publisher or other support, he's probably not going to get there completely by himself."

"Now maybe his community will, and I'd love to see that happen. It's a great experiment; I'm really anxious to see what happens. The reason I wish we were involved is because I think we'd learn from him. And the other thing that's true is Notch is a true talent of this business; I just like us being associated with great talent."

Admittedly, it's not something that sounds terribly plausible -- especially given Notch's past quibbles with any sort of "restrictive" policy, ala Steam -- but Hilleman's heart seems to be in the right place. Plus, let's be honest: at Origin's current rate of evolution, it probably won't wriggle onto land and sprout a mod manager until the year 2057. At which point Steam Workshop will have transformed into a sentient factory powered by tiny nanomachine elves that bear a striking resemblance to Gabe Newell.